The present invention is directed toward a firewood rack and more particularly toward a firewood rack which is capable of not only supporting a plurality of logs or other pieces of firewood but which simultaneously and continuously fumigates the wood in order to prevent infestation of insects, rodents or other pests.
Apparently as a result of the high costs of heating fuels, home fireplaces, heating stoves and the like have increased significantly in popularity over the past several years. While most homeowners who utilize their fireplace may store a large quantity of firewood at some location remote from their house, they usually also maintain a smaller quantity of wood closer to the house at a more convenient location. This, of course, creates the problem of attracting insects, rodents and other pests which utilize the pile of firewood for either breeding places or food too close to the house.
Firewood racks have been utilized for many years as one means for reducing the above problem. These racks are made in a variety of different shapes and sizes, some examples of which are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,187,901; 4,223,818; 4,236,775 and 4,294,364, and support the firewood above ground level. As a result, the wood stays relatively dry and is substantially less susceptible to infestation by certain insects.
Many other insects and other pests, however, continue to infest the firewood sitting in a firewood rack. These insects are, thus, close to the outside of the house in the area around the firewood and can be brought into the house when the firewood is carried in to be burned. This can be not only unpleasant but also dangerous since many of the insects such as termites can cause substantial damage to a structure.
To Applicant's knowledge, no one has ever attempted to further attack the problem of preventing infestation of insects, rodents or other pests from a woodpile. While pesticide dispensers per se are known such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 984,352 and 3,098,703, no one has ever proposed to combine the same with a firewood rack.